Office supplies, grocery stores among government cuts

Pentagon-run groceries are slated to be closed one day a week starting in late April thanks to forced federal budget cuts.

Government grocery stores on U.S. military bases around the world will close one day each week starting in May.

The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have already started buying fewer office supplies. And at the Department of Interior, employees have had to cancel previously-approved conferences they were planning to attend.

In a small effort to cushion the cuts, the Senate on Wednesday agreed to prevent furloughs of food inspectors and to fund a program that paid some tuition for service members in a bill that would fund the government through the end of September.

Many federal agencies are already working under hiring freezes, no bonuses and curtailed overtime, according to a memo compiled by a union group.

Anticipating the cuts, the White House budget office last month ordered "increased scrutiny" for all new hires, bonuses and travel, even for those who don't work directly for the government.

Whether the hiring freezes and travel cuts really prevent furloughs of other workers depends on the agency.

Patrick Lester, director of federal fiscal policy at the watchdog group Center for Effective Government, said some larger agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office, have been able to prevent furloughs just by enacting a hiring freeze.

"So TSA can cut overtime and that's one way they can avoid furloughs," Lester said. "It really depends on how agencies are structured. In some cases, a hiring freeze just isn't going to get the job done."

In the last five months, the Food Safety and Inspection Service cut travel and conferences for employees, and even closed five district offices to prepare for budget cuts, said Michael Young, a budget director at the Department of Agriculture, during a Tuesday House hearing.

Despite the cuts, the agency couldn't stop food inspectors from facing a furlough for 11 days between April and September. Buta congressional funding measure, which the House sent to President Obama on Thursday, will prevent the food inspector furloughs.